Self-stropping double-edged safety-razor



J. W. McAULIFFE.

SELF STROPPING DOUBLE EDGED SAFETY RAZOR.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 14, I920.

Patented Feb. 1, 1921.

lttl

llltl hill STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SELF-STROIPPING DOUBLE-EDG-ED SAFETY-RAZOR.

erner.

Application flied April 14,

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, J OHN W. MoAULIrFn, a citizen of the United States, residing at town of Pelharn, county of Westchester, State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Self-Stropping Double-Edged Safety-Razors, and declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

llhe present invention has for its object to produce a simple and novel construction of safety razor including, as part thereof, a stropping device which will permit a blade to be stropped without removing it.

Viewed in one of its aspects my invention may be said to have for its object to produce a simple and novel combined razor and stropper, permitting the use of blades of the double edged flexible type, and permitting such blades to be easily and conveniently sharpened.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; but, for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects and advan tages, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a transverse section through a razor constructed in accordance with my in vention, the section being taken mainly on a plane just within and parallel with one of the end walls of the casing or housing.

Fig. 2 is a section taken approximately on line 2-2 of Fig. 3, the blade being in the stropping position;

Fig. 3 is a section on a plane parallel with the plane of Big. 1, taken approximately on line 3--3 of Fig. 2, the blade being in the stropping position; and

Fig. 4. 1s a front elevation of one corner of the handle end of the device, the arm of the stropper-operating crank being shown in section.

Referring to the drawing, 1 represents a light box-like structure or housing having a contracted downwardly-projecting portion, 2, at the bottom; the housing being approximately rectangular in plan and r roughly T-shaped in transverse section.

The top of the housing is open. Within the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 1, 1921. 1920. serial No. 373,693.

housing, midway between the ends thereof, 1s fixed a block, 8, the top of which is adapted to form a seat on which a flexible doubleedged razor blade may be supported for the purpose of stropping the same. In the arrangement shown, the blade has a rectangular hole, 5, at the center, this hole being adapted to fit over a rectangular projection, 6, on the member 3, thereby holding the blade against shifting about in its own plane when restmg on the seat. The top of the housing is closed by means of two swinging panels or doors, 7, 7, each hinged to the housmg as indicated at 8. The members 7 are so shaped that when they are in the po sitlons shown in Fig. 3 and in full lines in F 1g. 1, the lower edges, 9, thereof will be in posltion to engage with the top of a razor blade resting on the member 3 so as to hold the blade down; while at the same time their two upper edges, 10, form a convert seat for the blade in its shaving position, said seat termlnating at its long side edges in -uard fingers, 11. When the members 7 are in the positions just referred to, their inner faces do not contact with each other or, at least, space is provided between-them for a screw threaded rod or post, 12, screw threaded at its lower end into the member 3 and projecting upwardly beyond the tops of the mem bore 7 the rod or post passing through the opening, 5, in the blade. On the upper end of the rod or screw is a knob or button, 13, for turning the same. Loose on the rod is a long concave holding plate, 14, of spring material which is adapted to overlie the razor blade in its shaving position and clamp it upon ts seat with a yielding pres sure WlllCll may be adjusted by turning the tlEv rod or post, so as to permit the cutting action of the razor to be varied to suit both light and heavy beards. When the rod or post is screwed down with the blade in the position illustrated in. Fig. 1, the swinging panels or doors, 7, are held locked in place.

When the rod or post is screwed down with.

the blade in the position illustrated in Fig. 1 the swinging panels or doors, 7', are old locked in place. When the rod or post is unscrewed so as to raise it as indicated in dotted lines, the members 7 may be swung outwardly toward and ast the positions shown in dotted lines, tins removing the support from beneath the blade and permitting it to drop down along the post or rod until it reaches its seat on the block 3. The

members 7 may then be swung back into their closed positions as illustrated in Fig. 3. the rod or post being still raised as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3; and then, upon screwing the rod or post down, the locking or holding plate, 14, engages with the upper edges of the members 7 and clamps these members down upon the blade as shown in Fig. 3.

The casing or housing is made wide enough to provide room at each side of the blade in its stropping position for stropping means of some kind. While the present invention is not limited to any particular kind of stropping elements, I have illustrated a stropper which I believe may be used advantageously. The stropping device consists of two stropping cylinders, 15 and 16, of any suitable construction, revolubly supported in the housing on opposite sides thereof and having their axes parallel with the cutting edges of a blade in its stropping position and lying approximately in the plane of such a blade. Each cylinder has a section, extending throughout its entire length, removed therefrom so as to provide a recess, 17, of considerable width measured circumferentially of the cylinder. The parts are so proportioned that the distance between the nearest points on the cylinders is less than the width of the blade. Then.

' with the cylinders lying in the positions illustrated in Fig. 3, when a blade is dropped down upon the member 3, its edges pro ect into the recesses 17 Suitable means being provided for rotating the cylinders in opposite directions, it will be seen that as the cylinder 15 turns in the direction of the arrow beside the same, it will flex the adjacent portion of the blade as shown in dotted lines, so as to strop the edge from one side of the blade. At the same time the cylinder 16, rotating in the direction of the arrow adjacent thereto, will strop the opposite edge of the razor. Before the cylinders have made a complete revolution, however, the recesses 17 again come opposite the edges of the blade and permit the blade to swlngback into the position shown in full lines in Fig. 3. Then, upon turning the cylinders in the opposite directions from those indicated by the arrows, the two edges will again be stropped, but from the side of the blade opposite to that from which the stropping previously proceeded.

In the arrangement shown, the stropping 7 cylinders are fixed upon shafts, 18 and 19,

respectivel and, secured to these shafts are ear whee s, 20, meshing with an intermeiate wheel 21. The wheel, 21, is adapted to be turned by means of a crank, 22, lyin on the outer side of the housing at one end thereof; there being a stop pin, 23, in the path of the crank to prevent it from being turned too far in one direction before it must start back in the opposite direction. The crank handle, 24:, may conveniently extend loosely through the arm of the crank, the end wall of the part 2 of the casing being provided with an opening, 25, which will permit the handle, 24, to be pushed into the member 2 as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 4. at the time the stropping rollers lie in the positions illustrated in Fig. 3. By this means the handle may be put out of the way while the razor is used for shaving and, at the same time, will hold the stropping elements in the proper condition to permit the blade to drop down on them when it is desired to strop it. If desired, the post, 12, may be provided with a flange or shoulder, 26, underlying the holding plate, 14 so as to support the latter when the blade is dropped down into stropping position and prevent the holder or locking plate from dropping down after the blade.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a single preferred form of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to the exact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend to cover all forms and arrangements which come within the terms employed in the definitions of my invention constituting the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A razor containing a blade and a stropping device mounted in the razor in the space directly below the blade.

2. A razor containing a housing, a doubleedged blade movably supported at the top of the housing, and a stropping device mounted in the housing.

3. A razor comprising a holder, a stropping device mounted in the holder, and means for supporting a double-edged blade so as to position it in the holder in a shaving position above and remote from the stropping device and permit it to be shifted into a stropping position in operative relation to the stropping device.

4. A razor comprising a housing, a ard projecting laterally from the upper e go of the housing, a stropping device in the housing, and means cooperating with the housing to hold a bladeon the guard in shaving position and permit it to enter the housing and be brought into a stropping position' in operative relation to the stropping device and free from the guard.

5. A razor comprising a housing, a seat for a razor blade in the housing, a stropping device arranged in the housing in position to strop both edges of a double edged blade arranged on said seat, a 0st rising from said seat and screw thread dd into the same so as to be adjustable in the vertical direction, a blade having an openin throu h which said post passes, a should er on the shoulder or in a stropping position on said seat.

6. A razor comprising a housing open at the top and having within the same a seat for a blade to be stropped, a stropping device arranged beside said seat, a post projecting upwardly from said seat and adj ustable in the direction of its length, a blade having an opening through which said post passes, a shoulder on the upper end of said post,'and aswinging closure at the top of the housing having a part adapted to lie between said shoulder and said seat so as to be clamped between the same when the post is in a predetermined position, the upper part of said closure being provided with a seat and a guard, whereby the blade may be clamped-in shaving position between said shoulder and the last mentioned seat or in a stropping position between said closure and the first mentioned seat.

7. A razor comprising a housing, a stropping device within the housing, and means for supporting a razor blade so as to perunit it to be shifted from a shaving position above the housing to a stropping position within the housing without detaching the blade. I

8. A razor comprising a housing, means for supporting a double edged blade at the top of the housing in a shaving position, separated stropping devices arranged within the housing, and means forsupporting said blade in the housing with its edges in operative relation to said stropping devices.

9. A razor comprising a housing, a seat cation.

for a double edged blade in the housing, rotary stropping elements arranged on opposite sides of said seat; a pair of swinging closures for the top of the housing, said closures having at the top a supporting surface for the blade in a shaving position.

-10. A razor comprising a housing, a seat for a double edged blade in the housing, rotary stropping elements arranged onopposite sides of said seat, a pair of swinging closures for the top of the housing, said closures having at the top a supporting surface for the blade in a shaving position, and means for simultaneously clamping a blade in shaving position and locking said closures against opening movement.

11. A razor comprising a holder having a seat, a post rising from said seat and having a shoulder at its upper end, stropping devices lying on opposite sides of said seat in a position to strop both edges of a razor blade lying on said seat, and means cooperating with said post for clamping a blade either in stropping position on said seat or in a shaving position in proximity to said shoulder.

12. A safety razor comprising a holder, a strop ing device mounted on the holder, means For supporting a razor blade on the holder either in stropping relation to said stropping device or in a shaving position remote from said device, an actuating arm for said stropping device lying beside the holder, said holder having a chamber therein, and a handle movably mounted on said operating arm in position to be moved into said chamber when said arm occupies a predetermined angular position? In testimony whereof, I sign this specifi- JOHN w. McAULIFFE. 

